The news had spread like wildfire.
The citizens of Jiang Ye Star, Bi Rong Star, and Liu Wang Star saw streams of police and military personnel patrolling their streets daily. Spaceports were choked with people, illegal immigrants roamed everywhere, and even in the wilderness and fields, alien spacecraft landed like meteorites, disgorging more illegal immigrants.
Even a fool could understand what was happening.
The real estate markets on the three planets experienced a dramatic surge.
Newspapers across various regions reported similar incidents: a residential complex opened for sale with five thousand units, attracting sixty thousand buyers, with queue numbers being resold for five thousand yuan each.
Hotels and lodgings were almost fully occupied. Jiang Ye Star even reported an absurd case of a double room housing twelve members of a single family.
Only one of the twelve family members possessed a passport and entered Jiang Ye Star as a tourist. The other eleven relatives were illegal immigrants. Without identification, they couldn't check into a room, so the entire family slept on the floor in one room. The elderly slept on the beds, two to a small bed. The middle-aged slept on the balcony, and the children slept on the floor, in bathtubs.
Thousands of illegal immigrants camped on the roads near the immigration bureaus of the three planets, all trying to obtain local identification. Several streets were completely blocked, littered with tents, bedding, clothes, instant noodle containers, mineral water bottles, and garbage. Some even defecated and urinated by the roadside.
When the immigration bureaus opened in the morning, illegal immigrants swarmed in like a boiling pot, shouting, crying, and wailing. As soon as the bureaus closed in the evening, they dispersed back onto the streets like migrating fish, sleeping wherever they could, determined not to leave until their demands were met.
Their desperation was understandable. February was fast approaching, and applying for immigration after February meant a hefty one-million-yuan immigration tax. Obtaining residency now meant catching the last train to this planet, with the potential to extend their lifespan by one or two centuries.
Who wouldn't take a chance for a prospect of both wealth and longevity?
The military and police were overwhelmed, busy transporting supplies, maintaining street order, arresting immigrant thieves, arranging for the elderly, weak, sick, and pregnant immigrants to receive medical treatment, deporting new arrivals at the spaceports, and even cleaning street garbage. They were swamped with all sorts of tasks.
Some military personnel, exhausted, would fall asleep on the streets at night, and eating while standing on the road was a common sight.
The mechanical soldiers, however, remained more resilient. Late into the night, they patrolled the streets, even covering the sleeping illegal immigrants with blankets, providing a sense of security.
The internet was even more crowded than the streets.
Billions of netizens tagged Jiang Ye, Cen Ye Meng, Shao Wan, and Isabella daily, followed by a barrage of questions:
"Is the rumor about the average lifespan reform true?"
"Why aren't you saying anything? Everyone wants to know."
"How much will lifespan extension cost? Will it be free?"
"Will the illegal immigrants take up our quotas?"
"What's going on? Will us poor folks get a chance at extended lifespans? Can the commander please come out and say something?"
Jiang Ye remained remarkably composed, staying silent online.
However, his silence was also a statement.
Many analyzed that Jiang Ye's current silence was to prevent the matter from becoming widely publicized, which would attract even more illegal immigrants. At the same time, the matter was true, so he couldn't deny it.
Time flew by, and finally, February 1st arrived!
Jiang Ye Star had 18.7 million illegal immigrants and stranded tourists!
Bi Rong Star had 33.7 million illegal immigrants and stranded tourists!
Liu Wang Star had 28.9 million illegal immigrants and stranded tourists!
Concurrently, 270,000 illegal spacecraft were parked in the wilderness of Jiang Ye Star, Bi Rong Star, and Liu Wang Star, like giant meteorites, unclaimed. Some even had their hatches open, resembling the disemboweled carcasses of colossal beasts, creating a surreal spectacle.
Some quick-witted individuals had already organized teams to drive into